Senaka Bibile (
Sinhala:සේනක බිබිලේ) (13 February 1920 – 29 September 1977) was a Sri Lankan
pharmacologist. He was the founder of
Sri Lanka's drug policy, which was used as a model for development of
policies based on rational pharmaceutical use in other countries as well by the
World Health Organization, the
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the
Non-Aligned Movement. Due to the far reaching effects of his proposals and policies, he has been called the 'greatest medical benefactor of humanity that Sri Lanka has hitherto produced'.
Biography
Senaka Bibile was born at Kataluwa Walawwa. His father was Charles William Bibile, a
Rate Mahatmaya or Chief Native
Feudal
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...
Official of Wellassa, his mother Sylvia Jayawardena of Kataluwa Walauwa, the
manor house of the Obeyesekere - Jayawardena family. The Bibile family claimed descent from a 16th-century
Vedda chieftain.
Education
He received his primary and secondary education at
Trinity College, Kandy. He entered the
Medical College in Colombo, where he had a brilliant career, winning the gold medals for medicine and surgery, and obtained a first class honours degree in 1945. In 1949, he began post-graduate studies at the
University of Edinburgh, returning to Sri Lanka in 1952 with a PhD. His doctorate thesis was a study of biological assays of cortical hormone and their application. His PhD supervisor was Dr Marthe Louise Vogt a famous British Pharmacologist of German Origin.
Academic career
He joined the
University of Ceylon in 1947. In 1947–49 he led a research team of doctors under the guidance of Professor Cullumbine, Professor of
Physiology. In 1958 he was selected as the first Professor of Pharmacology and became the head of a new department. He was the first dean of the faculty of medicine at the
University of Peradeniya from 1967 to 1977. There he started the first medical education unit in Sri Lanka.
Pharmaceutical policy
He is best known for his advocacy of the government-controlled pharmaceutical purchasing plans often referred to as "rationalisation" of
pharmaceuticals
A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and rel ...
and the development of a
national pharmaceuticals policy
{{Use dmy dates, date=December 2019
An essential medicines policy is one that aims at ensuring that people get good quality drugs at the lowest possible price, and that doctors prescribe the minimum of required drugs in order to treat the patient' ...
. He played the leading role in developing a rational pharmaceutical policy aimed at ensuring that impoverished people would get reasonable
drugs
A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalat ...
at a low price. Further, the programs are aimed towards ensuring that doctors prescribe the minimum required drugs to treat the patient's illness.
A careful selection of drugs was an essential component of the policies he advocated. He was called up by the Minister of Health to address this and prepared the
Ceylon Hospital Formulary
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
of about 630 drugs under their
generic names almost singlehandedly. Subsequently, the
National Formulary Committee (NFC), consisting of representatives from the public and private health sectors and the University Medical Schools a
formulary committee
Formulary may refer to:
*Formulary (model document), ancient and medieval collections of models for official writings
*Formulary (pharmacy)
A formulary is a list of pharmaceutical drugs, often decided upon by a group of people, for various reaso ...
was set up with him as its first chairman. The NFC published ''Formulary Notes'' for the use of doctors, which later became ''The Prescriber''.
At the time, it was alleged and widely believed that
Pharmaceutical companies in the country made considerable money by selling drugs under their
trade names, giving out biased information about the branded drugs as against those named generically. The
United Front Government of 1970 appointed Dr S.A. Wickremasinghe and Dr. Bibile to lead a
commission of inquiry to investigate this issue and they recommended the establishment a national policy and of a state body to regularise the trade.
Accordingly, in 1971 Hon. T.B. Subasinghe, the Cabinet Minister of Industries, appointed him founder chairman of the Sri Lanka
State Pharmaceuticals Corporation (SPC). The SPC channelled all imports of pharmaceuticals, calling for worldwide bulk tenders which were limited to the approved drugs listed in the national formulary. The public and private health sectors obtained all their requirements from the SPC. Hence the drug trade was regulated by this body and vendors were forced to compete with each other and with generic drug producers on a cost basis only. This program is generally perceived to have resulted in a cheaper drug supply for poor countries.
This policy was supported by WHO and other UN agencies with enormous benefit to Third World countries. The UNCTAD Secretariat examined the Sri Lankan experience, concluding that an analysis of the Sri Lankan model could give other developing countries an insight into ways of formulating, developing and implementing integrated national pharmaceutical policies. With Bibile's assistance, it published "Case Studies in the Transfer of Technology: Pharmaceutical Policies in Sri Lanka". This document has proved to be a very valuable guideline for developing countries intending to initiate pharmaceutical reforms. Translated into other languages, it may be found with health planners of almost every Third World country.
Although his policy was watered down by the
United National Party Government of 1977, which re-opened the doors to unrestricted imports, the SPC was never dissolved and continued to supply affordable drugs. In 2005 the
United People's Freedom Alliance Government promised to establish a
National Medicinal Drugs Policy (NMPD) that would enable Sri Lankans significantly to cut down on drug expenses and get quality drugs at affordable prices while saving billions of
rupee
Rupee is the common name for the currencies of
India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...
s in
foreign exchange
The foreign exchange market (Forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. It includes all aspec ...
for the country. Implementation of the NMDP could reduce the number of drugs imported, prescribed and sold in Sri Lanka to about 350 varieties.
Bibile's contribution to development in the area of drugs was acknowledged publicly during the 35th
World Health Assembly, in
Geneva in May 1982.
It is widely regarded in his home country of Sri Lanka that the threat he posed to the powerful drugs Multi-nationals may have had some bearing on his premature and mysterious death in 1977 while on a UN assignment in
Guyana
Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...
to introduce these policies there.
See Wikileaks information on Dr Bibile's drug policy and the United States
Politics
He was a
Trotskyist and a member of the
Lanka Sama Samaja Party
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, often abbreviated as LSSP (Literal translation, literally: Lanka Socialist Party, Sinhalese language, Sinhala: ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්ෂය, Tamil language, Tamil: லங்கா சமசமா ...
, becoming Treasurer of its
Youth Leagues. He conducted study classes on
Marxism at his house in Castle Street,
Colombo. At the height of the language issue crisis, when the LSSP stood for both
Sinhala and
Tamil being state languages, he agreed to contest a by-election for a seat on the
Colombo Municipal Council as the LSSP candidate, to fight for that principle, risking his life in the process and facing certain defeat in an atmosphere of ethnic animosity.
In the mid-1950s, he, together with
Herbert Keuneman
Herbert may refer to:
People Individuals
* Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert
Name
* Herbert (given name)
* Herbert (surname)
Places Antarctica
* Herbert Mountains, Coats Land
* Herbert Sound, Graham Land
Australia
* Herbert, ...
, 'Bonnie' Fernando,
Anil and
Jeanne Moonesinghe and other members of the radical
intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...
founded Sri Lanka's first
co-operative housing scheme, the Gothatuwa Building Society. This led to the foundation of the
Welikadawatte housing estate, which attained some fame as an island of intellectual creativity.
Publications
Dr Bibile has over 45 publications, including:
*Bibile, S, and Lall, S, 'The Political Economy of Controlling Transnationals: The Pharmaceutical Industry in Sri Lanka (1972–76)', ''World Development'', August 1977.
Oration
An oration is held every year in commemoration of Senaka Bibile, under the auspices of the Kandy Society of Medicine.
References
Sources
Prof. Carlo Fonseka, 'How many doctors remember the wonderful work of Bibile?', ''Daily Mirror Online'', 4 October 2002Prof. Tissa Vitarana, ''The Sri Lankan who challenged global giants''
External links
State Pharmaceuticals Corporation of Sri Lanka*
ttp://www.epid.gov.lk/pdf/VOL%2032%20NO%2041.pdf 'National Medicinal Drug Policy', ''Weekly Epidemiological Report'', Vol 32 No 41, 08 – 14br>
'Who was Senaka Bibile,'' LankaNewspapers.Com, October 2005 (PDF)33rd commemoration day of Prof. Senaka Bibile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bibile, Seneka
1920 births
1977 deaths
Sri Lankan Buddhists
Sinhalese academics
Lanka Sama Samaja Party politicians
Pharmaceuticals policy
Sri Lankan pharmacologists
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Academics of the University of Peradeniya
Sri Lankan expatriates in the United Kingdom
Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy